Peter Slipper's $300,000 binge

DISGRACED former speaker Peter Slipper spent almost $100,000 on international travel in the space of six months as part of a $300,000 binge on the parliamentary purse.

A serial offender at exploiting the perks of office, Slipper's international destinations included South Africa, Uganda, the UK, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary and the US.

He also spent $6377 flying his family around the country in the first six months of 2012 - all detailed in the Parliamentarians' Expenditure report, tabled last night in parliament just before it rose for a three-month break.

Slipper's hefty entitlements dwarfed the $194,297.98 he spent on travel and office expenses in the first six months of 2011 - a period in which his large taxi bills became the focus of Australian Federal Police scrutiny.

His appetite for luxury clearly remains. In the 28 days from March 24 to April 22, his average hotel and restaurant daily charge was a family budget-breaking $667.

But the global jetsetting paled into near insignificance when compared to former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Despite only holding the office of foreign minister for 57 days during the reporting period, Rudd's international sojourns cost taxpayers a massive $343,804.

In a schedule that would impress a Qantas International crew, Rudd visited Indonesia, the US, France, Belgium, UK, Germany, Ethiopia and Switzerland, Mexico and Tunisia on a whirlwind tour that included the 48th Munich Security Conference.

While Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Bob Carr racked up $517,379.54 and $245,319.58 between them in international travel, it wasn't just frontbenchers who chalked up the kilometres.

Victorian MP Richard Marles' frequent travel due to his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs cost taxpayers $161,624.38, while Queensland Labor senator John Hogg spent almost $70,000 on a two-week trip to Belgium, France and Israel.

Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy spent more than $88,000 but it was his last trip that stands out. Taxpayers paid $47,018.51 for Mr Conroy to travel to the US to "accept the Intelligent Community Forum's Visionary of the Year Award" for the NBN and hold subsequent talks, including $36,680.04 spent on business-class return fares.

Despite his relative obscurity, Victorian MP Michael Danby was second only to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in the amount of money spent on phones, with his total of $15,749.78 largely consisting of international calls.